Poor ratings: Adrian Chiles,43, and on-screen presenting partner Christine Bleakley, 31
It was launched with high hopes and to huge fanfare.
But Adrian Chiles has admitted he thinks Daybreak is one of the worst shows British viewers have ‘seen in years’ and revealed he has considered quitting.
In an astonishingly frank admission, the presenter said one of the reasons the show has failed to attract big ratings was because he is grumpy – something he blamed on the early starts.
He added that he had been arrogant to think the programme, which he co-hosts with Christine Bleakley, 31, would be a runaway success.
He said: ‘Normally I’m pessimistic about absolutely everything. But God forgive me my arrogance, I tried being positive about this because I felt in my water it was going to be a storming immediate runaway success. And I was completely wrong.’
The 43-year-old added that he had thought about leaving the programme.
‘Sometimes I look at myself and think, “Do people really want to wake up to you?”
Some days I have thought very definitely no, in which case my days are numbered,’ he said.
Pie on his face: Early starts have left Chiles grumpy - and he revealed he has considered quitting the show
‘But I’ve changed my mind about that. I think it can work.
‘The figures are getting a bit better. We’ve been having a laugh, it was a bit more like the old days and we felt a bit happier in our own skins.’
ITV invested a reported £15million in the launch of Daybreak in September, poaching former One Show hosts Bleakley and Chiles from the BBC and building a state-of-the-art studio. But figures released in October revealed that just 530,000 viewers were tuning in – a third of the number watching its main rival, BBC Breakfast.
It is also 200,000 fewer than its predecessor GMTV, which was axed by ITV bosses in an attempt to bring in more breakfast viewers.
Glamour: Christine Bleakley leaves Daybreak's London studio
However, Daybreak’s fortune could be on the rise. Figures released last week showed its audience had increased to 840,000.
Chiles told the Guardian Weekend magazine that his presenting skills were sometimes lacklustre because he was exhausted.
He said: ‘I get in the car at five past four, I say hello to the driver, he says hello to me. We both say how knackered we are and then I read the papers.’
He added that he is ‘grumpy for a reason’ – blaming tiredness, the show’s bad publicity and others complaining about his bad moods, because ‘there is nothing worse than somebody telling you to cheer up’.
Source:Dailymail